March 13, 2009
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Stupid Answering Machine
I tried to call someone the other day, and their answering machine was bent on preventing me from leaving a message. The task seemed simple: say what I needed to say, and press the”#” key when I was done.
On my first attempt, I tried to be clear and concise. However, about halfway through the message, the thing beeps and asks me if I would like to replay my message. No problem, I think, maybe my message was a bit long. I’ll just shorten it.
On the second attempt, I think I got about the same distance in before it beeped and did the same thing to me.
Third attempt, I tried talking faster, only to have it cut me off sooner.
I can’t remember the fourth attempt, since I was as angry as I was amused.
On the attempt where I finally got it, I talked quickly, only to have the thing NOT cut me off at all. I felt like Usain Bolt, slowing down as he reached the finish line at the Olympics.
By the end of it, I was trying not to laugh, because it was a serious message. At some point, I got off enough of the message that I felt was sufficient to prompt a call back. However, when the guy did call me back, he had no idea why I called, because he couldn’t get all of the info out of the message.
